Human Impact on Nature: Animal Species

Throughout history, humans have had to overcome difficult natural and climatic conditions and struggle with nature for survival. In recent decades, however, the situation has reversed — there is now a need to protect nature from the destructive activities of humans. The growing human population has an increasing impact on the planet’s climate and natural conditions. Massive energy production, industry, transport, and agriculture contribute significantly to human influence on Earth’s systems. In this lesson, students will analyze the situation and think about possible solutions.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify how humans affect nature and the climate.
• Understand the mechanisms that cause this impact.
• Identify the causes of negative human influence on nature and climate.
• Become familiar with the current state of the problem.
• Propose solutions leading to improvement.

Developed Digital Competencies: understanding phenomena using 3D models, explaining processes with 3D models, finding necessary information on the Internet.

Keywords: Animal species, Biotope, Habitat loss, Hunting, Fishing, Invasive species.

Duration: 5 minutes

Human impact on nature concerns not only non-living aspects such as water or air. Humans also interact with wildlife, both directly and indirectly. Much of Earth’s surface is managed by humans — for example, farmland and forests. Human activities promote or eliminate particular plant species, which changes habitats. Hunting, fishing, and destruction of natural environments also threaten many animal species. Some animal species are endangered or extinct, while others have become overpopulated, all due to human influence. For example, most non-human mammals on Earth today are domestic animals or pets.

Begin the lesson with a short brainstorming session. Ask your students what comes to their mind when you say “human impact on animal species.” What ideas do they associate with this topic?

Duration: 20 minutes

Habitat loss is a general ecological problem involving the living conditions of animal and plant species and their relationship to major changes in Earth’s land cover and water systems. It usually occurs as a result of human activity — agriculture, urban expansion, road development, industry, and mining.

Read this short article with your students about habitat loss in the USA to learn about different types and causes:

https://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Threats-to-Wildlife/Habitat-Loss.aspx

Then explore the Corinth app and look for 3D models of animals and plants threatened by habitat loss — for example, the “Crayfish,” “Giant Tortoise,” and “Sea Turtle.” Continue your Internet research to find other endangered species!

If the model does not load, open it in a new window:
app.corinth3d.com/content/p_zver_zelva_sloni

Duration: 20 minutes

Fishing and hunting are two ways in which human populations directly affect animals. There are many motivations behind these activities — primarily to satisfy food and fashion industry demands. However, not all fishing or hunting serves these needs, and some occur for reasons unrelated to survival.

Many animals are hunted solely to satisfy human desires for luxury goods such as ivory, rhino horn, or fur. This hunting is often illegal and excessive, posing a serious threat to several animal populations, some of which are critically endangered. Explore the Corinth app and find models of animals threatened by this human activity, such as the “African Elephant,” “White Rhinoceros,” or “Giraffe.”

If the model does not load, open it in a new window:
app.corinth3d.com/content/p_zver_nosorozec

Overhunting affects not only land species. Find the “Humpback Whale” model and discuss the phenomenon of whaling. Large-scale whaling in the 20th century became a severe global problem, leading to dramatic depletion of whale populations in the world’s oceans. Today, commercial whaling is banned.

Overfishing is another major modern issue. It means catching more fish than populations can naturally replenish. This occurs worldwide and has side effects on ecosystems, including the spread of competitive species like “jellyfish.” Explore the Corinth app for threatened fish models such as “Mackerel” or “Flounder,” and continue researching online. Try to find statistics or maps related to this issue!

Duration: 20 minutes

Invasive species are organisms that are not native to a specific region. They are often introduced by humans — either intentionally or accidentally. For example, the zebra mussel, originally from the Caspian and Black Seas, was accidentally brought to North America’s Great Lakes and now threatens native species. In other cases, people failed to predict the consequences of introducing new species, such as rabbits in Australia, which quickly became pests because they had no natural predators.

Species introduction can also occur unintentionally, such as in Florida with pythons originally from Southeast Asia. These pythons escaped from captivity where they were kept as pets. Today, between 30,000 and 300,000 pythons are estimated to live in southern Florida, and their population will continue to grow without better control.

Not all non-native species are invasive. For example, various agricultural crops — corn, tomatoes, coffee, and others — have spread around the world without negative effects, and sometimes even with benefits.

Ask your students for their opinion on the impact of invasive species on ecosystems and encourage them to justify their answers. They can discuss effects such as predation on native species, disease transmission, displacement of native species, food web changes, reduced biodiversity, and altered ecosystem conditions. Then, explore the Corinth app — look in the “Animal Biology” and “Plant Biology” libraries and search for invasive species. Discuss models such as the “Lionfish,” “Common Carp,” and “Colorado Potato Beetle.” Afterwards, search online for other widespread invasive species!

Duration: until the next class

Summarize the project topic. You can divide students into groups and assign short projects on specific subtopics. It is also possible to hold a brief discussion on selected interesting issues. Suggested topics include:

• Construction of dams and roads that block animal migration routes in their natural habitats.
• Replacing natural ecosystems with artificial ones, such as monoculture forests instead of original woodlands, or deforestation and conversion into plantations or farmland.
• Examples of species threatened by hunting worldwide or in your country/region.
• Successful species protection efforts globally or locally.
• Positive human influence on biodiversity.
• Possible solutions to mitigate or reduce human impact on plant and animal species.